Sunday, April 15, 2012

TOS Review- AIMS What on Earth?

"The AIMS Education Foundation is a research and development organization dedicated to the improvement of the teaching and learning of mathematics and science through a meaningful integrated approach."

Both the Tot School and K4 classes love Science days... so I was very excited to review What on Earth? I used it for my K4 class (ages 4 &5). The "experiments" / demonstrations are easy to understand, fun, and.... easy to prep for (yay!!)

From the website:

Grades K-1
30 activities—137 pages

Kindergartners and first graders are naturally curious about the world around them. What on Earth? will bring to their attention details of their everyday world that they previously have not considered.

They will be introduced to nature’s gifts of water, rocks, and soil and explore their many characteristics and beneficial uses. In “Secret Sources,” they will learn that everything comes from something when they discover paper comes the wood of a tree and a tee shirt comes from cotton on a plant.

Clever explorations fill the book that is divided into the following six sections/concepts:

Resources: The Earth has resources that are used to make all kinds of things. Resources can be conserved by recycling, reusing, and reducing their consumption.
Rocks and Soils; Rocks and soils have observable properties.
Water: Water is found in oceans, lakes, ponds, and rivers.
Changes: Earth’s surface can quickly change due to hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, and wind and wave action.
Day/Night: The sun and moon are objects in the sky that have repeating patterns of movement.
Seasons: The seasons form a repeating pattern. The changes in weather help determine our clothing and activities.

What on Earth? retails for $21.95. It comes with a CD for printing accompanying worksheets. Be sure to check out the AIMS store for other grade level and subjects.

This has made a great addition to our science activities this year. I am not sure I would use this as a stand alone curriculum but to supplement, it has been awesome! One thing that I want to mention- that the book overall seems to be geared to more of a classroom setting....

*As a member of the TOS Crew review program I was given a free copy of this product to review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. To see what other members of the Crew thought click below:

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

YIKES!!!!

It has been crazy over here... and I haven't had a chance to Blog since the beginning of March... currently the Flu has hit our house.. high temps and all... hopefully I am back on track this weekend.... and the Watcha Making Wednesday post will be up next week...

Sorry for the Delay... :-)

Some Pictures from the last month.... (some token pictures if you will)

Braeden LOVED this pocket chart and was so proud that he put his numbers in order all by himself.... (Jan/Feb 2012)

Working with Handwriting without Tears... building the letter...

Ryleigh doing a quick review to #20... I love these table top pocket charts... so multifunctional... and really good for reading!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

TOS Reading Eggs

We have been working on reading this year in K4 and Letter Sounds in Tot School, so I was thrilled when I got the opportunity to review Reading Eggs.

Reading Eggs is an online program for ages 3-13.... from learning to read to increasing reading comprehension. There are lots of fun games that the kids really liked. I used it with Braeden (age 2 1/2) and Ryleigh (almost 5). Both seemed to really enjoy it.

Although technology is such a huge part of today's society.... I was not super excited to have the kids use my laptop (that I also use for work).... if you are like me and prefer tangible lessons: Reading Eggs also offers companion books and writing workbooks to go along with the program. These are optional, but reinforce each online lesson.

One thing that I did appreciate was that it tracked each child's progress which was very helpful.

There is a 14-day free trial available.... how fun is that?!? Subscription options:

12 months for $75
6 months for $49.95
Monthly for $9.95

*For the 6 or 12 month subscriptions, add a second or third child for 50% off)*
To learn more about Reading Eggs, be sure to visit their website.

*As a member of the TOS Crew review program I was given a free copy of this product to review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. To see what other members of the Crew thought click below:

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Whatcha Making Wednesdays.... Dr. Seuss Cupcakes

This week both classes celebrated Dr. Seuess's Birthday (March 2nd)... and two of my favorite projects were the Thing 1 & Thing 2 and our Cat in the Hat cupcakes...

I saw these cute Dr. Seuss Handprint crafts on LittleKinderWarriors...and had both Tot School and K4 Make them...so fun!!! On one had we used white and blue paper and the other we used red...

Ryleigh's Thing 1 and Thing 2

The Tot School Things.... (I didn't get a picture of the K4 classes)...

We used a box of white cake mix and some red food coloring....frosting... and sprinkles... easy...and fun!

K4 made some Dr. Suess Cupcakes... ie.... we made red and white striped cupcakes...

We seperated out some of the batter and added a little red food coloring... and then alternated white and red spoonfuls....

Frosting and decorating the cupcakes...

The finished "Cat in the Hat" cupcake... notice the stripes?

Some Dr. Suess Books we enjoyed this week:

The Cat in the Hat
ABC
Horton Hears a Who
The Foot Book

Instead of posting my Dr. Seuss activities twice (once as a Whatcha Making Wednesday and once as a school/start post).... I am doing once all inclusive post...Also Linked to: A Mommy's Adventures!; ABC and 123; Red Ted Art ...JDaniel4's Mom; 1+1+1=1; Homeschool Creations; Mom2 lil Posh Divas;

weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

If you have a baking/cooking (etc.) activity that you have done with children and would like to share... please link up!!!! We are always looking for fun...and yummy recipes. If you do link up...please try and visit someone else's entry and share some comment love...

For a Reminder of the Guidelines to Link Up...Please visit here

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

All About Reading Level 1

I cannot stress to you enough how excited I was to review this awesome program. Seriously....and... I am happy to report that the hype that surrounds All About Reading is completely TRUE!!!

The All About Reading program uses all five of the key components of reading:
Phonological Awareness; Phonics and Decoding; Fluency; Vocabulary; Comprehension

The Level 1 Kit includes:

1. Teacher’s Manual
2. Student Packet (includes Activity Book)
3. Run, Bug, Run! reader
4. The Runt Pig reader
5. Cobweb the Cat reader

The lessons are meant to be relatively short and can be done in one sitting or broken up throughout the day... whichever works best for your family. They are great because they are multisensorial and keep the kids interested. We have been doing sight words this year, so K4 has a pretty long list at this point that they can read... (have memorized).... but... this is such a natural way to learn to read that it does have a semi- magical outcome... where blending sounds and reading become fun and effortless.

The Deluxe Reading Interactive Kit includes the same items as the Basic Reading Interactive Kit:

1. Letter Tiles
2. Magnets for the Letter Tiles
3. The Basic Phonograms CD-ROM
4. Reading Divider Cards

and three additional items:

1. Reading Review Box

2. Reading Tote Bag

3. Star Stickers

The only slightly less than positive thing I found about this product is that the initial set up can be somewhat timely... with the punching and magnatizing all the letter tiles... HOWEVER- there is minimal prep time needed for the 49 lessons... so it's totally worth it.

*As a member of the TOS Crew review program I was given a free copy of this product to review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. To see what other members of the Crew thought click below: